Sense and Sensiblity
by Goddess Of Heather
Summary: Repost Chapter 1 with all chapters eventually reposted. An AU where things are just slightly different. Preslash with last chapter having them get together HouseChase
1. Ears and Eyes

I know I've already posted this once but I have a shiny new beta who's really wonderful and I felt it was changed enough to re-post it. Much, much, much thanks to suzisabella for all the wonderful additions! Oh if ya'll don't want the re-vamped parts posted that's fine, but the last two new parts that haven't been posted anywhere might get affected by the changes. Just let me know.

Title: Ears and Eyes

Series: Sense and Sensibility

Author: Goddessof7s

Summary an AU of how things might've gone. First day jitters

Warnings: Pre-slash, House/Chase. Cross posted to house slash, house-chase and house fanfiction

Notes: Big, big thank you to suzisabella for all the wonderful good stuff that she added, this is practically half hers!

lj-cut text"The elevator was filled with an uncomfortable silence." 

The elevator was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Clearing his throat, the imposing black man eyed the pretty, but uptight looking woman next to him, before offering, "Hi, I'm Dr. Eric Foreman. It's my first day here – do you think you could give me any pointers? Stuff to avoid in the cafeteria, that sort of thing?" He put on his best smile, hoping the woman would lose the tense look. He'd be here for years, and while he didn't give a damn what people thought of him, he did want to start out on the right foot.

The woman met his eyes, and smiled back. The smile didn't ease the set of her shoulders, though. "I'm afraid not," she said brightly, "It's my first day too. Dr. Allison Cameron."

"Good to meet you," Foreman said. Cameron smiled more widely. A tense silence filled the car, before Cameron turned abruptly and asked, "So, what's your specialty?"

"Neurology," Foreman replied, "You?"

"Immunology," the woman said. Silence descended once more, and Foreman sighed minutely in relief as the doors opened to his floor. He was mildly surprised when the tense woman exited as well. "So...," Foreman groped for something else to talk about as the woman followed him down the hall, "will you be working in Pathology? I'm here on a fellowship with Dr. Gregory House." He turned in surprise as the woman abruptly stopped, a look of wounded dismay on her face. "What?" he wondered what he'd said that offended her.

"Oh, nothing," the woman said, "It's just that I'm here to start a diagnostic fellowship too."

"Oh," Foreman said, wondering why the woman...Cameron, wasn't it?...had seemed so upset that she wasn't the only one to be working with Dr. House. "Well, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other then." He moved off down the hall, hoping that Cameron would lose some of that perpetual anxiety. It was off-putting.

Cameron watched Foreman turn his back and head towards the diagnostics conference room. Her thoughts were in turmoil. She wondered if Foreman had been hired because she hadn't been considered good enough on her own. She pursed her lips. Dr. House had been so...intriguing...during her interview, and she'd been looking forward to getting to know him better. She hoped that having another doctor around wouldn't distract Dr. House from her. She set out for the conference room.

Foreman was standing just inside the door, scowling at a newspaper that was completely obscuring a person sitting at the conference table. She frowned. The other person's hands were too youthful to belong to Dr. House. Another doctor? Just how many people were there in this department, and how was Dr. House supposed to mentor her if his attention was always elsewhere?

"Hey!" Foreman said suddenly. Cameron jumped. "I've said 'hello' to you twice already! You too good to speak to me?" He strode forward and snatched the paper from the person at the table, then stopped in puzzlement at the young man threw his arms up in defense, an almost comical look of surprise on his face.

"Oh! Um, hello," the man said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there."

Cameron narrowed her eyes. The voice was hesitant, but there was a trace of irritation beneath it. Foreman threw the paper down on the table, frowning in disbelief. "How could you not know I was here? I was talking to you!" He stared down at the arrogant man, fuming. Blond hair, blue eyes, designer, yet truly horrible clothes...some pampered rich boy who thought he was better than everyone else. Foreman knew the type. He opened his mouth to tell the snob exactly what he thought rich white boys, when a sudden crash made him turn. His new employer had just thrown open the door of his office, and was currently examining the three of them as if they were some new, exotic disease. Out of the corner of his eye, Foreman noticed Cameron suddenly brighten as she straightened up and took a step towards Dr. House, her mouth opening to speak. "Dr. House," she said warmly, "It's so good..."

Blond-boy interrupted her, smiling, "House, I didn't know you'd hired new fellows!" Cameron gasped in shock, and Foreman decided he'd had enough. He grabbed Blondie's shoulder roughly, snarling, "Look, rich boy, manners might not matter to you..."

"HEY!"

Foreman released Blondie, who backed away immediately, and turned to face his obviously angry boss. Dr. House studied him for a moment, then said, "He's deaf, you moron!"

Foreman winced. From the tone of Dr. House's voice, it seemed that, despite his intentions, he had indeed gotten off on the wrong foot. Maybe it wasn't too late to salvage the situation. He looked at Blondie, hoping his face was contrite rather than embarrassed. "Sorry, man," he said, only now noticing how Blondie's eyes focused on his lips and not his eyes as he spoke. "I let my temper get away on me."

"It's okay," Blondie said, although he looked pissed off. "You didn't know. Just don't grab me again, okay?"

"No problem, man, I'm sorry I did it just now," Foreman smiled, hoping that he hadn't stuffed things up too badly. "I'm Dr. Eric Foreman; I'm just starting my fellowship here."

Blondie didn't reply, turning and raising an eyebrow at Dr. House, who grinned. "Surprise!" he said, "I decided you must be lonely in the sandbox all by yourself!"

Blondie sighed, then turned back to Foreman, extending a hand. "Robert Chase," he said in a long-suffering tone of voice. Foreman took the offered hand, "Looking forward to working with you!" Chase just nodded, and turned back to Dr. House. "You're a right bastard, you know that?"

House tapped a finger against his lower lip in thought. "I have been told that, yes, but personally, I think I'm adorable," he said seriously. Chase put his hands on his hips. "You're not adorable," he said flatly. House pouted.

In the background, Cameron was appalled. First, that other doctor had rudely interrupted her, then Dr. House hadn't done anything about it, and now they were bantering! Dr House hadn't even looked at her once! Well, it probably wasn't the other doctor's fault. He was deaf, Dr House had to look after him. Cameron shivered internally. Being deaf must be so awful! She'd have to help the other doctor...Chase... all that she could. Resolved, she stepped forward. "Hello," she said slowly, "I'm...Dr...Allison...Cameron. I'll...be...working...with...you...too." Chase stared at her incredulously, while Dr House rolled his eyes in annoyance. Cameron wondered what she'd done, as Chase obviously forced a smile. "It's good to meet you Dr. Cameron," he said formally, "But it's really not necessary to speak so slowly. It's actually easier for me to lip-read when you talk normally. Please, just make sure that I'm facing you when you want to speak to me." Chase's tone of voice indicated that it was anything but good to meet her. She bit her lip. She was only trying to be nice! "I'll..remember..that," she said, still unconsciously slowing her speech. She turned to Dr House, smiling warmly, "As I was saying..."

"Yeah, yeah," House cut her off. Cameron shut her mouth with a snap. Why was Dr House being so mean to her? In fact...he was ignoring her, his attention focused on the deaf doctor, saying, "Chase, why don't you show these two kiddies around the sandbox, and I'll page you if we get anything?"

Cameron silently fumed, as Chase answered, "Yeah, like that'll happen. How long since you've accepted a case?"

"Oh, I don't know," House replied, "But maybe today will be our unlucky day. Now shoo kiddies, it's my nap time."

"And here we have the ICU, my second home", Chase turned to smile at them. "That's my specialty by the way, intensive care."

During the tour, Foreman's natural arrogance had reasserted itself, and he curled his lip in derision. Thankfully, Chase was looking the other way. Foreman didn't think much of intensivists, but he supposed Chase had to take what he could get. He'd certainly never make it in a demanding field like neurology.

"That's everything then," Chase was saying, "Any questions?" Foreman and Cameron both shook their heads. Chase sighed, and gestured that they walk with him. "I suppose you need some general rules in communicating with the deaf...shouting or talking slowly won't help," he looked pointedly at Cameron, who was yet to speak to him normally. "I read lips well, but obviously I can't read them if I'm not facing you. To get my attention you can bang on the table, the floor - anything I'm in contact with. Or you can flick the lights. If none of that is possible, say if I'm walking with you like right now, or we're with a patient, then – and only then – reach out and touch my wrist."

As Chase spoke, they arrived back at the diagnostics conference room, and he turned to face them, burying his hands in his pockets. "You're going to find that a week in diagnostics is five days of boredom followed by two days of manic energy – when we have a patient that is. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a crossword puzzle to get to."

Cameron followed Chase into the room, but Foreman continued down the hall to House's office.

"Dr. House, I think we should talk," he announced.

House rose his eyebrows as his new fellow strode into the office, all earlier traces of discomfort gone. "You're not quitting already are you? Dammit! I haven't even had time to place a bet with Chase."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Foreman ploughed on, ignoring House's words. "You can't have a deaf doctor. I mean, he can't listen to a heartbeat or a cough. Hell...what happens when a patient codes? How can he work with everyone else?"

House stared steadily at Foreman as he put down his gameboy. Foreman met his gaze, chin raised, apparently certain that House would suddenly see his folly in employing Chase. House quirked his lips. Foreman was about to be disappointed. "I'm only going to tell you this once. Chase is an excellent doctor and a talented diagnostician. He more than pulls his weight around here. You, I know almost nothing about. I suggest you concern yourself with yourself."

Foreman nodded sharply, gritting his teeth. He turned to leave, making it as far as the door before his boss's faintly mocking voice stopped him.

"Oh, and Foreman, feel free to disregard this advice if you like. Should make the next few days entertaining. Or however long you last."

Determined not to turn and face the smirk he knew would be there, Foreman opened the door and left.

/lj-cut 


	2. Talk is Cheap

Title: Talk is Cheap

Author: Goddessof7s

Summary: What was Chase's interview like

Rating: G

Notes: AU sequel to Ears and Eyes Oh and hawkeyecat recommended that I get a beta, anyone interested? Thanks.

Series: Sense and sensibility 2

Warnings: Pre-slash House/Chase, really not so much now but maybe some day. Cross posted to house slash, house-chase and house fanfiction

"Let me get this straight," House sighed, God he hoped this wasn't going to result in getting preached at again, "you hired Foreman because he has a record. You hired me because you think I'm damaged in some way, and you hired Chase...?"

House sighed again, at least she hadn't started in on a "fix-it" lecture yet. "I hired Chase because he was interesting." Cameron blinks at that.

"How?"

"How what?"

"How was he interesting?"

"Well duh he's deaf!" But for House it was more than that. He recalled the interview perfectly. Even the reason behind it. He hadn't wanted to interview Dr. Robert Chase, but Cuddy was excited about his name, and who his Daddy was. She had insisted that he at least interview the guy. So he did. Determined to not like him, (not that that was hard, he hardly liked anyone) he found himself sitting with a pretty boy doctor across from him. But that didn't matter to him, he just sat there playing his gameboy, waiting to see how long Dr. Goldilocks would last. He made a wager with himself that it would be less than five minutes. Thirty-five minutes later he conceded defeat. He was actually going to have to do the damn interview.

"Okay, so why did you apply for this job?" The mundaneness of the question wears on him.

"I applied pretty much everywhere."

Well that was a little different, "what's your favorite sandwich?"

He looks thoughtful for a second, "wheat bread, vegemite, sprouts, sliced tomato and turkey."

House like the answer, complete with an eye on details. He picked up his gray and red ball and spun his chair around and started tossing it up in the air and catching it. "What no cheese?"

There was a silence that was odd, then, "sir I'm sorry if you asked me a question, I'm deaf, I can't read you lips when your back is to me."

"Your deaf?" The comical question face makes it's first appearance as he turns back around. "How do you propose to diagnose patients if you can't hear?"

Chase snorts at this, "I'm deaf not dumb. I can't do everything but I've found some rather unique techniques to get around."

Now this was interesting. "Fine prove it."

"Prove it?" Surprise was the first emotion besides a calm amusement to show in the young doctor.

House smirked at the tone, "yes, this will be a working interview."

The ride in the elevator was filled with silence but House supposed that Chase was use to that. House walked into the clinic, _voluntarily, _and if Cuddy had been there to see it she'd have declared him possessed and then called it a day, after all possession could only improve the man's disposition. He walked up to the nurse's station and turned to Chase, gripped him by his shoulders (which were firm and muscley in House's opinion) and turned him so that Chase's back was to them. "Don't peak," House mocked him. "I need a patient with a cough, preferably productive."

The nurse thumbed through the charts and passed one over to House he glanced over the file and smiled evilly at the woman. "Perfect."

He grabbed Chase's upper arm, "Come alone Dorothy we have a plane to catch."

"House I think your mixing-well actually I don't know what your mixing, but it's something."

"Like I care. Mr. Gray would you please stand up!" An older man pushing sixty stood up. "Follow us to examine room three."

Closing the door behind the other two House took a moment to enjoy the giddy interest fluttering through him. This was so much better than General Hospital, plus he'd Tivo'd it so he could watch it later! "Okay Mr. Gray, I am Dr. House and this is Dr. Chase and we are conducting a working interview. As in Dr. Chase is going to diagnose you and if he gets it right he's hired!" Chase reached for the file, House pulled it out of his reach. "And he's not going to look at the file either."

Chase surveyed Mr. Gray. Perhaps, House thought, he was thinking up a plan of attack. He was almost dizzy with glee has he watched Chase pull up the man's pant leg, pull his arm out and watch how it moved around. Mr. Gray was starting to get disgruntled at the lack of attention payed to him, and not part of his body. "Doctor, Doctor!"

"Oh he can't hear you he's deaf." House wished that he'd thought to bring popcorn. Ohhh wait he had vicodin at least. He paused to pop two pills. His eyebrows went up in shock as Chase pressed his left ear over Mr. Gray's heart. Chase was so _hired_.

"He has congestive heart failure."

"Explain." House agreed but wanted to know how Chase got there.

"His socks are too tight, indicating recent swelling, he's short of breath his chest is rising twice as much as normal, also a dry unproductive cough. His shirt is also too tight, recent sudden weight gain or abdominal swelling."

House smiled, "your hired. By the way what's the difference in vibration between a dry cough and a productive cough?"

Chase smiled, almost secretive, "it's not the vibrations from the chest to feel for, but the throat."

House spent most of the rest of the day pondering this and trying to tell the difference.

"What do you only like things that are broken?" Cameron wasn't quite at the whining stage, _yet_.

"No I didn't say that. I said I hired Chase because he's not boring." House likes Chase because it feels like playing with fire, of all the people he's met, Chase sees past what his lips are saying and sees the truth behind the words the most. Sometimes House hopes Chase sees into him, and sometimes the idea of someone knowing who he is really scares him to death. But at least its never boring around him.


	3. No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition

Title: No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition

Author: Goddessof7s

Summary: Deaf!Chase! Backstory hurrah!

Rating: teen

Notes: AU sequel to Ears and Eyes and Talk is Cheap

Series: Sense and sensibility 3

Warnings: Pre-slash House/Chase. Cross posted to house slash, house-chase and house fanfiction

Flock of fruit, flock of fruit, oh! Stupid me, a kurfurckle! I sighed in satisfaction as I filled in the crossword puzzle. I jumped a bit in shock at a sudden vibration through the table, damnit I hate it when I do that. I have to admit though one of the nice things about these metal tables is how well they conduct vibrations. Glancing up I see Foreman ask me "How long have you been deaf?" From the set of his shoulders he seems quite agitated, probably has asked the question more than once. Stupid bloke he's been here what almost four months and he still forgets even when he is asking me about it?

I must've made a face at the question because Foreman shifts a bit on the to the defensive side. I don't like to be questioned on my past really, but I am surprised that they held out so long before bring it up. Frankly I'm shocked that they've both lasted so long with just the fellowship. I've started to suspect that Foreman is staying from sheer bloody bull headiness, and well Cameron, I can only guess at her motives. "About five years." He seems a bit shocked at the answer and I wonder what he was expecting, I can never tell, frankly I've started to suspect that they don't even know themselves.

I'm hoping that this will be enough for his curiosity, but I highly doubt it. "How did it happen?" Figures.

I sigh again, I can't hear my sigh, but having had my hearing 4 times longer than not having it means that I still have quite a few hearing habits that I can't seem to break. I know that Foreman isn't going to like the answer, but then again I don't like the answer so I guess he'll have to live with it just like I do. "I don't know."

Oh he's agitated now, look at him squirming, "you don't know? How can you not know?"

I want to smack him, what does he think I'm lying, that I've forgotten or something? I remember the time that this was going on perfectly.

I was in at the tail end of my med schooling. It'd been one of those weeks where at the end of it you just wanted to curl up and sleep for 36 hours. Which was pretty much what I did. Baring the occasional break to eat or go to the bathroom I was really only interested in resting. All I really know is that when I started to wake up in the shower I realized that I couldn't hear anything. Just dead silence, I started to talk to myself, banged on the shower door, to no avail. Dead silence. I hurriedly got dressed, I think that I arrived at the hospital, St. Mary's that I was interning at, in record time, later I would feel guilty that it took my own personal health crisis to cause me to move that fast. Even at 4 am the ER was bustling with activity.

"Mary," I grabbed Mary by the arm, she was a pretty brunette nurse that I knew did a good job and didn't gossip too much. She also had the preferable tendency to not hit on me.

She barely glanced at me, "Chase? What are you doing here? I didn't think you were going to be on for another 2 hours."

"Mary." There must've been a sense of urgency in my voice because she suddenly became very serious.

I had her whole attention, even before I lost my hearing I was fairly good at reading people and reading lips, but I was so thrown off by everything, that I just started in. "Mary, I can't hear anything. Nothing, no tinnitus, no ringing no nothing." I think my voice was raising from how people were starting to look, but just saying it and not being able to hear it made it worse, I knew that I was starting to get a bit hysterical, but honestly who could blame me. Mary started to talk at me, and I was watching her lips but I just couldn't process it. People started to press around me all of them asking questions with their lips moving, but I couldn't get it, couldn't process. I started breathing too fast, I knew that I was hyperventilating, but I couldn't slow my breathe. Thank God for Dr. Scott. He had the good sense to clear everyone away, sat me down pushed my head between my legs and gave me five minutes to collect myself. Finally I started to calm down.

"Dr. Scott. I don't know what happened but I just woke up and I couldn't hear a thing."

I look up at his face watching his lips, "...you do...unusual.."

I blinked it was garbled, but knowing the kind of questions he would ask it wasn't too hard to piece the rest together. "No, I didn't do anything unusual. I mean you know how awful this last week has been. I went home I slept, I ate and I slept some more. I don't really remember much more than waking up and raiding the fridge before going back to sleep. I do-don't know if it faded over the time that I was asleep or if it just suddenly happened. But when I woke up this morning nothing." Goddamn it! I actually started to cry and bless Dr. Scott's balding middle-aged heart he pulls me forward and hugs me and just lets me bawl.

Two weeks and about a million tests later and we still didn't have a good explanation for what happened. I did have a diagnosis though: sensorineural hearing loss. I managed to hit the really rare cases where it happens in both ears. There's not always a reason why it happens. It can be triggered by a viral infection or an autoimmune disease. If caught right away it can be treated with steroids but they only work half the time. Unfortunately I gained no hearing back even from the treatment, and without being to pinpoint what caused the sudden loss there was nothing to do but wait it out. Occasionally one's hearing can just come back, but the rule of thumb is that if it's been more than a year it's permeant.

I spent four months intensively training at a school for the deaf and blind to learn how to cope with the loss. I found out that I was a natural lip reader and all of my previous language skills ( three fluent and few more passable) made it easier to learn sign language. There where other smaller things to learn besides communicating, but nothing so bad as having to re-design one's whole life. I felt very lucky that I wasn't blind. Adapting to living wasn't so hard, adapting to working, well I wasn't even sure if they would let me.

Dr. Scott came to see me after I got out, he insisted that I finish school that there had to be a way to make it work. He believed in me so much, that I had to try. I found out so much about myself from my loss. I started to really gain some self confidence, that all the things that other people were saying about me that I couldn't hear, weren't important. I went to therapy, talked it out (so to speak) what I was feeling and for the first time in a long time I started to actually feel whole. It's funny really that losing my hearing helped me to gain so much more.

Just because I'm more adjusted than I was doesn't mean that I like people prying into my life. "It's called sensorineural hearing loss. Sometimes it just happens, no explanation, the treatment is iffy at best, and it didn't work." Foreman didn't look like he was going to drop the subject, bugger all, couldn't he just leave well enough alone.

Foreman's head turns and I follow the direction with my eyes and see House with a file in his hand. Never have I been so glad to get a patient. "...diagnosing Chase perhaps we can work on a actual patient." I swear for just a split second that House winked at me, as if he knew that he was rescuing me from the Spanish inquisition over there. Huh.


	4. Cursed with Anger

Title: Cursed with Anger

Author: Goddessof7s

Summary: Deaf!Chase! Cursed re-write

Rating: teen

Notes: AU sequel to Ears and Eyes and Talk is Cheap and Spanish Inquisition

Series: Sense and sensibility 4

Warnings: Pre-slash House/Chase. If you haven't seen Cursed then you might want to wait there will be major MAJOR spoilers for the epi. Cross posted to house slash, house-chase and house fanfiction

It took House less than a week to get into the habit of writing on the board and then asking about the diagnosis. When Foreman and Cameron came and stayed, Chase knew that more change was going to have to happen if they were to really work together. The next day that Chase came in there was a clear board next to the white board. It became habit to write the symptoms on the clear and the possible diagnosis on the white. Chase couldn't always turn his in time to catch what people were saying. There was a subtle art to reading lips in a group conversation, not only did he have to think quickly on what the patient might have but also be constantly aware of who was talking. There were always little indicators of who he should look at, flicks of the eye, countenance, but sometimes he felt behind. Like he was two steps to the left and two steps to the back. People adapted though and things started to go smoother.

Things with the patients never got easier. When there was more than just the patient and him in the room it was nice to have another doctor with him. Of the three, House Cameron and Foreman, Cameron was his favorite to work with. Well he suspected that House would be his favorite, all sarcasm and attention he'd never have to worry about missing a question, but House didn't see patients so Cameron it was. She handled parents like a pro and Chase couldn't be happier to have her there with him in Gabe's room. Even though he couldn't hear what was going on he could feel the tension in the room, the strain on Gabe's face was clear. He had to get him out of that room and away from his parents.

"We need another CT scan." From the way the room paused he knew he'd interrupted someone, from the scowl on the father's face probably him. But he scowled so much it was hard to say for sure. Cameron gave him a look like he was nuts, but she could handle the parents. The father started to move and Chase knew he'd follow them. So he cut them off, "Sorry medical personal only."

Walking down the hall pushing Gabe was going to get him no where in finding out what Gabe had really been up to. There was a candy machine down that hallway there and he made a turn. "Gabe I thought we'd go for a walk then park ourselves somewhere. You don't need the scan but the tension level back there was pretty high. Figured you could use a break." He pulled the wheel chair up beside a bench. "Your father, he's a pretty high-powered guy huh?" He doesn't blame the father really he is just fighting for his son, it's the only way he can express his helpless concern, to try and do something, even if it is impeding.

"Yeah. He was an Air Force test pilot. Real top-gun stuff. Flew a Mach 3."

"Hard to deal with, sometimes?"

"I guess I'm more like my mom."

"Listen, I promised to keep my mouth shut, but I need to know. You definitely haven't had any sexual contact of any kind?"

"I wish." Gabe spoke with the vehement goal of losing one's innocence as only someone who still had it could.

The trick to walking and turning away from someone in a conversation is to talk while doing so. Polite people don't interrupt and it gives him time to get a candy bar and some crackers from the vending machine. "Know what? Girls like the cool guys now. You give it a few years, they start liking the smart guys. You'll be all right."

"Can you keep a secret?" Jackpot. Nothing loosens a mouth better than a good ear so to speak. That and the chocolate helps.

"I have to, it's my job." He tries not to talk about his problems, his handicap. It's not that he's ashamed but the patient doesn't want to feel sympathy for their doctor. They want them to be all powerful, understanding and good listeners. Them knowing that he is deaf is just a distraction and he doesn't tell them unless he has to. It took some hard lessons to get that right.

"I'm cursed. I'm not kidding. This seance thing the kids did? It spelled out my name, said I was gonna die." Seance, it took him a second to place those syllables, odd words on the lips take longer sometimes to place. It feels like a sad state of affairs when the word cefuroxime is more easily recognized than something much more common like love.

"First name and last name? We've got a Gabe upstairs. He's very old, very sick."

"No! It's me. I have the worst luck. One time, I broke this mirror. The next week, my parents got separated."

"My parents got split up, too. Every kid thinks like it's his fault, it never is. So what about the rest of the stuff? Any playing outside that your parents don't know about, anything like that? Maybe you were somewhere you weren't supposed to be?" He knew there was. He just had to convince Gabe to tell him.

"Oh, man."

"Gabe, it's important."

"Secret club. What's the secret, they're all morons?"

"He fell on something in the attic, scraped his arm, got the rash the next day. Said it smelled really moldy up there."

"Fungal pneumonia without the cave. Clever."

"I'm gonna get a sample." Chase checks his bag to make sure he has a mask in there along with sample bags. He always try to keep a spare or two. Never know when you might run across a highly communicable disease or a dangerous black mold. Especial working for House.

There's someone standing in the doorway when he turns around and his first thought is that he is hallucinating. His second is that his father must be dying, it seems the only reason why he would come to see him. Either way he doesn't care. "Dr. Chase. You have a few moments." Smooth, he dad can't even call him by his first name.

Chase casts his eyes down, it is a big insult in the deaf community to purposefully look away or turn one's back, it's the equivalent of putting one's hands over their ears and humming. "Sorry, I've gotta go." Chase rushes off and House has to wonder how well the older guy knows Chase because he calls out after him, as if Chase could actually hear him. Intriguing.

"These young doctors. It's like they don't care about people. No manners."

"My fault, probably." Oh an accent cool.

"That's an interesting accent you have there. I'd say Czech, with about thirty years of Aussie."

"You have quite an ear." Bingo!

"You're Chase's dad. Hard to miss, you know, the big hug and how happy he was to see you." Dr. Chase the senior, acknowledges this and leaves. House sips his coffee and smiles like a bloody bastard. No, life around Chase was never boring.

"Need a consult." Translated means he needs a sounding board.

"With a patient." Piffle, Wilson should know better.

"Urgent doctor stuff." House left knowing that Wilson would follow. He always does.

"26-year-old male, sudden loss of the ability to speak--"

"Just because you got out of clinic duty doesn't mean everybody did." Hah! Wilson thinks that I'm rubbing his nose in it. Jokes on him, I'm planning that for next week.

"-- to his father. Differential diagnosis?"

"Chase?" Oops, sure hope House doesn't pick up on the fact that he knew Chase's dad was in town.

"Dad swoops in, Chase swoops out." Whew. Thank God House is too distracted by Chase to pay much attention. That's interesting.

"Dad say why he was here?" Distract him! Can't let him think too long.

"See? You asked. Dad comes 5000 miles and you're more curious than Junior is. Can't just be about the divorce. It's been fifteen years and mom's been dead for ten of them. You think Daddy murdered her? No what's really interesting is that the good Dr. Rowan Chase doesn't seem to realize that Chase is deaf."

Wilson froze. "What are you serious?"

"He called down the hall after his son. You think he would realize that would be pointless. I wonder if Chase never even told his old man."

Great googlie mooglie Wilson thought that House's head might spin off in delight at such an interesting quandary. Oh well time to be the voice of common sense. "You want to get to the bottom of this, you're doing it exactly right. Don't talk to the people involved, drag your buddy away from work for some pointless speculation."

"You want to know how two chemicals interact, do you ask them? No, they're going to lie through their lying little chemical teeth. Throw them in a beaker and apply heat."

"Even I don't like you."

"You know, words can hurt!" I snort at the thought. Words might hurt a normal person, but certainly not House.

"Boy gets anthrax, but happens to be allergic to two antibiotics. Hate to step on anybody's toes, but is it possible that your guys got this one wrong?"

"The rash is classic anthrax." God Chase wants to kill House right now. How could he do this to him. He purposefully brought his dad in on the case so that he could watch them interact. Bloody bastards, the both of them.

"Except the color."

"The rash hasn't turned black yet. No necrosis, no anthrax." Figures that Cameron would back him up immunolgist and rhuemtologist being so similar. She probably has copies of his books on her shelves.

"Necrosis can theoretically take as long as two weeks." Some how Chase doesn't think that anyone will side with him. Foreman is being suspiciously silent.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Guys, it's not a competition! It's a diagnosis!" That's rich coming from House. When has he ever not wanted to be competitive. "Okay, who thinks," House is behind Chase who has no bloody idea what he's doing. Probably putting bunny ears on him or something equally juvenile. "Junior wins? Four to one, it's not anthrax. So we start over, what's changed? What do the nodules tell us?" God, it figures, that his son is the only one that can see past the Great Rowan Chase to realize that he isn't always right. We know it's anthrax. It's just also something else.

"Sarcoidosis."

"Excellent. Send an ACE level. If it comes back positive, put him on methotrexate."

The lights flick in the clinic room and I know that it's either House, Wilson or Cuddy. They're the only ones that bother.

I turn and watch as the rest of the ducklings and my father follow House into the room. "You page me?"

Okay what's he up to now? "No, I don't need you."

"Oh, come on. We all need help now and again You're getting a consult. Okay, we've got new skin lesions, bigger and uglier. What would cause that?"

"What if his body worked so hard attacking the anthrax that it started attacking itself?"

"Auto-immune." Great there goes Cameron again to back up my dad.

"Wouldn't present this aggressively." Why can't they just bloody leave me alone. They'll likely just disregard whatever I say anyway.

"It's not likely, but it is possible." Ah Cameron ever my Dad's defender.

"What, in a twelve-year-old male?" Chase scoffs.

Okay it's down to the wire throw out something anything to get them all to leave! "Gabe's dad found leishmaniasis and filariasis on the internet yesterday. They didn't fit then, but now they kind of do."

"Sure, except for the nodules and we're not working out of Calcutta General." Damn! Time to drag the silent shadow into this.

"Multiple neurofibromatosis."

"You think this is neurological?" Great even the neurologist doesn't want to think different from his dad. House is suspiciously silent in regards to his father's theories.

"The only reason you're thinking auto-immune is because you're a rheumatologist! If you were a proctologist you'd think rectal cancer." Damn that was a bad analogy. Chase just feels so flustered as if this one case is an example of his entire skill as a doctor.

"Gotta go with Senior. He literally wrote the book with this one."

"Auto-immune is a big universe. It could be anything from scleroderma to churg-strauss." Great now to get them off this line of thought he's going to have to prove it isn't any of those.

"Whatever it is, we should start him on steroids, keep the swelling down."

"And 100 mg. of cytoxan, it treats most auto-immunes."

"We'll give it to him now, before the fat starts dripping out his eyeballs."

Chase follows House and waits for his entourage to disband. "You're messing with my head."

"Your relationship with your dad is messing with your ability to do your job."

"Only because you made my dad part of my job."

"Good point." Thank you, you bloody bastard. "Haven't seen him in years, he flies across the Atlantic to see you –"

"Pacific."

"You breeze by him like he's a Hare Krishna at the airport. You don't even ask why he's in town."

Ha! I know what will get him! Twist him up in his own game. "The question isn't why he's in town the question is why did he come to see me." House grabs Chase's arm as he turns to leave.

"I was hoping to do this by sheer manipulation, but if you insist on talking, fine, talk. What did he do to you?"

Stupid House still can't figure it out can you. "You're still asking the wrong questions. When you figure out the right ones let me know." Ha! Let him mull over that while I actually try to figure out what's wrong with Gabe.

"Your diagnosis is wrong. No auto-immune disease. The swelling's probably just down because we've got him on steroids. It's masking whatever's wrong." And here comes the counter point.

"ANAs are unreliable." Ah, but I'm prepared for that one!

"Phospholipid antibodies are negative, so no lupus. Same for churg-strauss." How many does he need to get?

"You're arguing with a rheumatologist." Yes and you could never be wrong? "There's about twenty distinct auto-immune diseases –"

God this is bullshit. Chase doesn't need another lecture. "Why are you here?"

"SLE conference." Yeah right watch the left hand as the right one stabs you. He knows this trick.

"You were in New York last year for the scleroderma conference, I didn't hear anything from you." He never hears anything from you.

"Just wanted to say hi this time." Yeah right. He didn't want to talk to five years ago when he was needed but now he does? Maybe he really are dying, or suffering some time of stroke because Chase certainly doesn't believe that his father is suddenly going to start caring.

"You said it, you're still here." Go ahead prove him wrong.

"I miss you." Why now? He doesn't even really know Chase, he never really did.

"I was 11 years old when you walked out. Now you're walking back in?" Not if Chase has anything to say about it.

"I left your mother. I didn't leave you." Sorry but the fact that he wasn't there when he was needed would seem to indicate some form of abandonment.

God this feels like poking a sleeping dragon, dragging all these buried memories out into the light of day. Chase can practically smell the alcohol. "Mum was living on gin and tonics, how was I supposed to take care of her?"

"She wasn't your responsibility." No but Chase was yours and Rowan left him with a person that couldn't even take care of herself.

"I know! She was yours." God Chase doesn't want to be here, listening to this talking about this.

"I'm sorry she died. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. But she was falling apart long before –"

God Chase has got to get out of there before he pukes or starts crying or both. God puking and crying at the same time, that's just down right one of the worst feelings in the world. "I've got to talk to House about this treatment." Rowan calls down the hall as Chase walks away but Chase can't hear him and he clearly still doesn't know that Chase is deaf.

"It's too bad that Chase won't find me in that direction. Rowan spins around and spots House in the doorway to a room 214. "I was trying to think, plus coma guy is a good listener. Doesn't try to give me any pointless advice."

Rowan seems to have nothing to say. House's countenance softens just a little. "Chase never told did he?"

"Told me what?"

"That he's deaf."

"Don't be stupid, Robert isn't deaf I would know."

"Oh just like he would know that you have cancer."

Rowan shifts a bit surprised. "That little blue dot under your collar." Rowan tugs his collar up as if hiding it after the fact will help. "It's a tattoo for guiding radiation treatment. I was looking for it after I saw what you had for breakfast: brown rice and vegetables, macrobiotic diet. Popular with Hollywood starlets and cancer patients."

"Lungs, stage four."

"You look good."

"I'm not. Came to the States to go to Sloan-Kettering, and to see Dr. Wilson."

"What'd he say?"

"Three months."

"But you haven't told Robert. And Robert didn't tell you that he went deaf."

Rowan stiffened at this. "Look I don't know why you keep insisting that my son is deaf."

"Because he is. Sensorineural hearing loss, happened five years ago."

Rowan look so shocked that House is afraid he'll faint and since cripples aren't very good as supporting their own weight let alone another person's he leads him into 214. Once Rowan is sitting down and had his head between his legs for a few minutes some of the color returns to his face and House isn't quite as worried about Rowan having a fainting spell. "My God. Five years ago, Robert had written me a letter, telling me that we needed to meet in person. That something happened and that it couldn't be said over the phone. I-I remember thinking how ridiculous that was. Surely nothing could be that imperative, after all we hadn't talked since his mother died. So I called him up. Some woman answered, and the first thing I thought was that he'd gone and knocked up some girl. All he said into the phone was, 'I can't talk to you over the phone Dad. We need to meet in person.' Then he just hung up. I just assumed that if he really needed to speak to me that he would give in and call me back. But he couldn't talk over the phone because he was deaf. I just don't see how its possible."

There was an uncomfortable silence and House saw the opportunity to move on, he didn't do comfort. "You should tell him about the cancer."

"I'd prefer you not tell him."

"Yeah, it's better. I'll get to see his face when he reads his dad's obituary."

"It's not your business."

"I suppose it isn't. Just like telling you that Chase is deaf isn't either."

"He's getting worse. Now his entire right hand and forearm are paralyzed."

"And his fever's back, it's back over 105."

"If we don't stop the nerve deterioration quickly, he'll be paralyzed for life." Ohhh look Foreman is actually going to speak.

"Well, luckily, at this rate, that should only last about a week. Okay, so –"

God this was all his fault. "I told you we should get him off the cytoxan. This is toxic neuropathy. We've been shoving drugs into his system for a disease he doesn't have!" Chase should have pushed harder! He knew the diagnosis wasn't right but didn't push hard enough he should have convinced them.

"You know, it could be neurological." Oh thank you Mr. Neurologist.

"What kind of brain process would cause a paralyzed hand, skin lesions, and swollen throat nodules?" Ahh Cameron still defending your hero, the Good Dr. Chase?"

"Robert was right. You said multiple neurofibromatosis." Damn, did his father just agree with him?

"Are you saying that for the chance of a beautiful family moment, or is there some medicine involved?"

"Fits better." Yeah now that his idea isn't working.

"Too bad. I was hoping for the other reason. I was gonna go get my camera. Get a CT scan. His brain this time."

"Why didn't you tell me that Rowan Chase was in to see you?" He's allowed to get disgruntled at Wilson, actually he's allowed to get disgruntled at everyone.

"Ethics, confidentiality? Does any of this ring a bell?" Probably not.

"You could have covered yourself." Scoff, Scoffy McScofferson Wilson could have found a way, "Called me in for a consult."

"It is a juicy piece of gossip." His eyes light up just a little, deep down under all that good moral fiber is a nattering school girl. "You know what happened? I got all focused on his cancer and lost perspective." See? Damn moral fiber, gets in the way of all the fun stuff.

"You can't tell Chase, but I can. What should I do?" Look he's actually asking for advice.

"Oh! This is where I give you advice and pretend you're going to listen to it. I like this part." Fine you can be re-named Scoffy McScofferson. "Did Rowan ask you not to tell?"

"I promised I wouldn't. My fingers were crossed, though, so I'm wide open."

"I was wrong! This is the musing-out-loud part! Do I actually need to be here?" So Wilson doesn't know what to do either huh?

"Telling him, now that's got real entertainment value." Which is true then there can be a blow up of Chase vs Chase light, the whole you're dying, you're deaf thing could be fun.

"Hmmm, he might even cry." Humm Wilson sounds a bit too gleeful about that. Perhaps House has been a bad influence on him? Nah, only good could come from being more like him. "On the other hand, there is the "do unto others" thingy." Damn moral fiber is back! Doesn't he ever get the stuff stuck in his teeth?

"Then I should definitely tell him! I'd want to know." As long as House didn't, you know, have to actually talk to his dad.

"You want to know everything. There's also the "keeping your promises" thingy."

"Oh, you never run out of thingies. Like that blonde thing you were chatting up." Since he's not going to tell me anything productive House might as well mock him some.

"She's the hospital accountant! We were going over billing procedures!"

"Double-entry bookkeeping?" Who is he kidding?

"What are you going to do?" Wouldn't he like to know.

"Billing procedures. They're so complicated, aren't they?" Damn his parting shots are so good he should have his own show.

Chase is staring at the CT intently when Cameron grabs his shoulder and Chase jumps slightly, "do you have to do that?" His tone is slightly irritated. You think she would realize by now that he doesn't like to be touched suddenly.

"You know, parents are never as bad as kids think they are." Yeah right what did her parents do to her, hug her and kiss all her boo-boos? He'd learned long ago not to cry, no one ever comes.

"You like my dad so much, ask him out." She does seem to have a thing for older men.

"I'd make an excellent step-mom, I'm very lenient." Oh now that is just disturbing. She really is all screwed up. "He's your father, you never see him, and he's here. Unless he's done some unspeakable thing, you should lighten up." Well you know he hasn't been talking about it so maybe it is unspeakable? Did she ever think of that?

"Right, thanks for the tip."

Chase tries to turn back to the CT but Cameron grabs his shoulder again. "Okay. He beat your mom. He beat you." God how much more personal does it get? Doesn't she realize that he can't hear her tone of voice, she's obviously joking because she seems to think that Dr. Rowan Chase walks on water. He wonders that if he told her that his father molested him as a child that she would bloody well leave it alone. "What did he do?"

Some how he doubts it. "Really, don't push it."

"All this hate. It's toxic." She just bloody well can't leave it alone, she's worse than House in some ways, at least with him he can admit that it's just curiosity, but with Cameron it's all wrapped up in concern and caring that rings so very false.

"Then stay away."

"Clue number one: If I were Jesus, curing this kid would be as easy as turning water into wine."

"Demonic possession?" Ohh Foreman wouldn't want to stick one's neck out there would we?

"Close, but no wafer. Clue number two: Rheumatology Rowan was almost right. It causes auto-immune symptoms."

No it couldn't be could it? "Leprosy?"

"Yeah, that's real big in the Jersey suburbs."

"It's leprosy." Ha! "Run a FITE stain, it'll be positive. Daddy hung out on the wrong kind of Indian ashram."

"But it's obviously dormant in the dad, how could the kid catch it?"

"It's not dormant in the dad, it's just slow. Damaged his ulnar nerve, was misdiagnosed as carpal tunnel. Never trust doctors. Run a FITE stain."

"No wonder he got anthrax. The leprosy weakened his immune system."

"Vicious circle. The leprosy made him vulnerable to the anthrax, and the anthrax treatment put the leprosy in overdrive."

"But the antibiotics we gave him, they cure leprosy."

"Yeah, that's where the trouble starts. The antibiotics hit the nerve strands, they kill the leprosy bacteria. The corpses get tossed into the system. And as fascinating as our bodies are, they're also stupid. They produce antibodies to beat dead bacteria. And these aren't the polite antibodies, they're the ones that won't sit still, kick during naptimes. They attack his neural and fat cells, cause some inflammation and all the rest of his symptoms."

"So the cure's killing him!"

"I want you to call down to Carville, Louisiana, home of the last leper colony in the lower 48. Get them to send up some thalidomide." Okay so Cameron is going to protest with?

"Thalidomide?"

"Twelve year olds don't have sex, right? So he can't be pregnant. Make the call." Well everything is wrapped up and the patient should start to get better soon. In a way it felt even more tense now that there wasn't the drive to prove his point to his dad. Chase is walking to leave the room when Rowan grabs his arm.

"We have to talk." All eyes are on them as they walk into the lounge and close the door.

Chase is on the defensive, arms crossed stance closed off. Clearly waiting for his father to start in. "Why didn't you tell me that you went deaf?"

Chase shifted a bit feeling that familiar guilt that he should have tried harder, but he shoved it away, he did try! "I tried but you couldn't break away from your research. You couldn't be bothered!" As he starts in he can feel all those years of anger welling up. "What happened Dad? Are you dying?" The vitriol anger started to spew out and once it started he couldn't stop it. "Is that why you suddenly want another chance?" Chase didn't realize it but his voice continued to raise, usually if he had a problem with regulating his volume it was that he was speaking too low, but not this time. "I've given you more chances than any one person deserves, and you frittered them away as if they didn't matter, as if I didn't matter." The righteous anger that Chase felt had drained away by the end of his speech, leaving an emptiness that made him wish he could stay angry at his father forever, it would at least be a kind of warmth.

Chase turned to go too spent to stay any longer, but Rowan grabbed his arm. "Robert wait." Chase turned and waited not expectantly, but he'd stopped expecting things from his father long ago. "I-I'm leaving this evening. It was good to see you." Chase nodded woodenly and that night when he was in bed trying to sleep he pretended that he really didn't want to be stopping by his father's hotel to talk to him, and he pretended that it didn't really hurt anymore. He didn't think that he fooled anyone, least of all himself. At least Cameron couldn't harass him about his father anymore now that he was gone.

House on the other hand would lay in bed that night thinking about fathers and sons and whether or not Chase realized that he was right about why his father wanted another chance.

Whew! That was a monster! I'm not sure where the story is going next. I'll have to ponder. I had some ideas for Volger and I wanted to see them get together, oh the images I have of that. Any hoo I feel really good about this one, just enough spin to really twist it good, plus it was a lot of fun getting in to the character's heads.


	5. Stab Me in the Back to My Face

Title: Stab Me in the Back to My Face

Author: Goddessof7s

Summary: Deaf!Chase! Volger happens!

Rating: PG

Notes: AU sequel to Ears and Eyes, Talk is Cheap, Spanish Inquisition and Cursed with Anger There will be a newer shinier beta'ed verison but I decided to go ahead and post the un-beta'ed version.

Series: Sense and sensibility 5

Warnings: Pre-slash House/Chase. Talks of Volger Cross posted to house slash, house-chase and house fanfiction

It'd been a week since Volger had left and for some reason Chase had started to act really depressed. Normally House wouldn't have given a rat's ass, but things had changed ever since he'd opened his door and found Chase standing on his doorstep.

"What are you doing here?"

Chase at least has the good grace to look chagrined. "I needed to talk to you," House opened his mouth to make some snarky comment Chase is sure, "away from the hospital." That shuts House up and he beckons for Chase to enter. House really didn't feel like dealing with any of this right now, he'd just had his first run-in with Volger.

"I thought you should know that Volger came to see me. He wants me to turn rat on you or he gets me fired."

"What?" That makes House stiffen with shock. Chase was staring so intently at his lips that House knows this conversation is really important to him. "Why?"

Chase tells him all about his first run-in with Volger and how upset he was to find out that Chase is deaf.

Cuddy turned to Volger, "excuse me I'll just be a minute," she pointed to the women's restroom and left him by the nurses' station to soak up the atmosphere. It was nine in the morning so she didn't have worry about House being in yet. Volger watched the people mill about and catching a flash of white decided to flag down the young doctor, probably an intern he looked so young, and ask a few questions.

"Doctor!" He just kept walking. "Doctor! Doctor I order you to stop right this instant!" Volgar was not a man to be trifled with and he wasn't used to getting ignored. He grabs the white clad upper arm of the young doctor and swings him around. "What do you think you are doing ignoring me?" Volger stares into wide frighten blue-green eyes and starts shaking him. "What is your name?"

Suddenly Volger's hand is wrenched away from the doctor's arm. "What is going on here? Why are you assaulting Chase?"

"He ignored me when I called for him! What if I had been a patient needing assistance?" Cuddy glances at Chase quickly who is wearing a befuddled expression, he's still not sure what's going on.

"Mr. Volger, I'm sure Dr. Chase didn't mean to ignore you, you see he's deaf so he couldn't have heard you call out after him."

"You employ deaf doctors?" Cuddy winced, God if this was his reaction to Chase what was he going to think of House?

Chase looked like he was going to open his mouth to speak, but Cuddy shot him a look that clearly said 'shut up'. "Dr. Chase is a wonderful doctor. He has one of the highest positive patient reviews ever. Now why don't I show you the labs?" Cuddy led Volger off but Chase saw him throw one last calculating look over his shoulder.

"Later that day he came to me, told me that he wanted me gone, but that he wanted you gone more and that if I finked on you, fed him information to get rid of you that he would save my job."

House looked thoughtful during the story. He knew that some patients didn't like finding out that Chase was deaf, but Chase had always handled it well and House was always surprised at how few patients figured out something was wrong. It just went to show that Chase was that good at talking to a patient. And that the patient was even better at being oblivious than he had originally thought.

House knew that no one would believe it if told that he was capable of not being sarcastic, but the truth was he felt worse sometimes about how patients reacted to Chase being deaf than Chase. He would never tell Chase himself, but he'd always admired him and how well he dealt with his limitations and frankly he was just too tired to come up with a seriously snarky come back, and he feared for his reputation if he were to say something too lame. "So what do you want to do about Volger?"

Then House saw what had to have been the sexiest smirk ever. It was so very devious with just a hint of dangerous. Ohhh House liked danger, it was like playing with fire he just hoped that Chase would deliver on the promises made by that smirk. "Well I thought we could..." And deliver he did. House felt his fatigue lift from him in the face of a truly diabolical plot. Chase and he had opened a bottle of good red wine and plotted half the night. House had never seen anyone be as light weight as Chase, two glasses of red wine and he wasn't even fit to drive home so he'd ended up sleeping on House's couch. Despite the fact that it was lumpy and uncomfortable as hell Chase seemed to sleep with the bonelessness of someone truly drunk. Despite the fact that House went to bed, his mind was still in his living room watching the young Aussie sleep. The next morning wasn't awkward but it should have been. Instead House had woken up to a plate of eggs and toast and smiling Aussie.

"Gimme," House snatched the coffee and food and didn't bother to look up as Chase talked.

"Sorry to wake you up early but I want to swing by my place to shower and change." House glared at him over his plate of eggs. Food time no talk, but it was too much effort to stop and clear his mouth to make a snarky comment and Chase wouldn't read his lips well if there was food in his mouth. Evil death glares of doom would have to do. Chase just laughed it off and House had to wonder if he was slipping or just hadn't had enough coffee yet. "I didn't want you to wake up and have me just be gone." Two vicodin and another cup of coffee later House was thinking more clearly. One: those eggs were damn good, what had Chase done to them? And two: if Chase was going to make breakfast then House was willing to let him sleep over any time he wanted.

The plan had fallen together perfectly and House had taken a moment or two throughout the day to admire his devious little wombat. Chase had said that night that the best kinds of plans have broad ideas and fuzzy edges allowing for lots of on the spot improvisation, and right he was. House wondered what Chase would be like as a general leading an army. House could have never pulled it off, he was the kind that leads a small special ops team behind enemy lines for assignations and such, but Chase has the charisma and sheer fiendish intelligence to lead an army to war and win. The image of Chase in shining chain mail on horse back sword raised in the air was certainly an appealing one.

House had found his mind fixating on Chase more and more, and dammit! He was way too old for school boy crushes. But in his more maudlin moments he entertained the thought that something might come from it, not that he would ever admit that or anything. Cameron had come back after some cajoling. He'd refused to give in on the date issue. Cameron acted all smug and superior because he'd come to see her, and well that had really turned him off from the whole thing. It had the feeling of a trophy, "I went on a Date with House and Survived". There could be a fanclub and t-shirts or something. Either way her whole additude made him feel disgruntled about it. So he'd said fine and turned around and walked away, his mind already on that spitfire half-jewish girl. She wouldn't kow-tow to House like Cameron or go through his mail for him, but she'd work well enough he supposed. Cameron apparently realizing that she had lost the upper hand changed her mind because when he got back to his place she'd left a message saying she'd come back.

And that Ladies and Gentlemen seemed to be that. Except for this pesky problem of Chase and how tired and quiet he'd been. It was funny the first three times he'd found Chase asleep at the table, but it had started to lose it's amusement. Oh don't think for a second that he had stopped tormenting Chase just because he'd acknowledged feeling of lust for him. If anything he got worse, but House admittedly could be quite juvenile in his show of affections.

He'd arrived early to the office to try and get a better fix on what exactly was going on with his duckling dynamic. He watched in interest as Foreman stood guard at the door. "Okay he's coming." His eyebrows show up in surprise as Cameron dumped the half full pot of coffee down the sink.

Chase walked in looking haggard and worn out. "Sorry Chase," Cameron said all false smiles and sweetness, "last of the pot. There's some decaf grounds if you want to brew some yourself." Wow. House was going to have to remember this whenever Cameron came to sweet talk him into something, she was quite the little actress. Chase turned and walked out mumbling something about coffee on the second floor.

As soon as Chase's back was turned, "Okay kiddies what was that about? Did Chase steal your bulldozer so now you can't play well?"

Foreman gave him a look of complete disbelief. "What are you kidding? He openly betrayed you!"

"Yeah House we're just protecting you!"

House sighed in exasperation, why hadn't Chase said anything? "Morons! If I'd wanted Chase punished I'd have done it myself! He didn't betray me! Him being the down right devious little wombat that he is played double agent!" Damn did some of his admiration of Chase's plan seep out?

"What!" Ohh look stereo.

"Chase came to me told me about Volger's offer and then purposefully fed him information that would hurt him more than me." It really was a thing of beauty, he remembered so clearly everything that Chase laid out.

"See it's like this. Volger wants a rat, he's going to keep searching for one until he finds it, so lets give it to him. I tell him a few things to gain a bit of trust and then start leading him away. Have him watching one hand while you do something completely different. Plus we have the added bonus of him guaranteeing my job. You know that he's going to demand one of us get fired. He's a power monger and he doesn't like things he can't control. You he can't control. He blames something on you or whatever you can always push it off on me, because me he won't fire me, not as long as I'm his best source of info." God it had been so beautiful in it's simplicity. Throw in a few fights in hallways and everyone knew that Chase and House were on the outs and Chase was in Volger's pocket. In return Chase also got inside information into what Volger was planning.

It had been Chase's idea to leak that the federal witness was 'better' as he pointed out, the witness would get worse or sick again, House could make a big stink and then feel vindicated and Volger would look like an ass. House hoped that he never truly pissed Chase off because he'd probably wake up to having all his canes glued to the floor or something.

House shook his head in disgust at Foreman and Cameron, "What else have you been doing to him" They both mumbled something about convincing him to take extra shifts for various reasons. "Dammit the only person that gets to torment my fellows is me. So stop it. Heavens knows why Chase didn't just tell you himself that it was all part of the plan. Stupid self-sacrificing..." House mumbled under his breath as he walked off.

Chase had come to him thanked him for sticking up for him and all that rot, House didn't really give a flip, or that's what he said anyway, but part of him was happy to see Chase smiling more.

A few weeks later found him playing a piece of Chopin that went beautifully with the pounding rain over head when the doorbell rang. He opened it to find a drenched Chase who looked like his dog died. Ohhhh. It was going to be an interesting night.


	6. Numb the Pain Stoke the Fire

Title: Numb the Pain Stoke the Fire

Author: Goddessof7s

Summary: Deaf!Chase! How could the Mistake happen if Chase can't take phone calls

Rating: NC-17

Notes: AU sequel to Ears and Eyes and Talk is Cheap, Spanish Inquisition, Cursed with Anger, and Stab Me in the Back to My Face

Series: Sense and sensibility 6

Warnings: House/Chase. That's right we're jumping in there both feet forward! Spoilers for The Mistake (not many really) Cross posted to house slash, house-chase and house fanfiction

Chase stood on House's doorstep soaked to the bone and shivering. From the devastated look on Chase's face House knew he'd learned about his father. Either the SOB had worked up the gumption to tell his son, or Rowan had died and Chase had just found out. Either way there was no way House was going to leave Chase standing on his doorstop to get the flu. He hustled Chase inside and pushed him into the bathroom, he wasn't about to put up with a damp moldering couch for a week. He found a pair of sweats and a old worn stretchy shirt that he thought would fit Chase.

When he went into the bathroom he found Chase sitting on the toilet seat, head hanging down, dripping water on his floor. House handed Chase one of his nicer towels with the dry clothes and closed the door to give him some privacy.

When Chase came shuffling out of the bathroom a few minutes later House was already on the sofa with two glasses of wine on the coffee table and two vicodin inside himself. Chase sat next to him, not touching him, but still clearly seeking solace in House's presence. House pressed the glass of wine into Chase's hand. Chase knocked it back in one go and when he reached for the wine bottle House intercepted and made sure to only pour half a glass. He was relieved when Chase merely sipped at it. "I-I got an e-mail, a mate of mine, sending his condolences for my dad's death. I had to do a search to find an Australian newspaper that carried a copy of his obit. His funeral was week ago. I don't know what to think, what to feel," Chase dissolved into tears and incoherent mumblings and House didn't know what to say to make it better. There probably wasn't something you could say at this point to make it better. Instead knowing how very important touch can be to a deaf person he pulled Chase in close and held him.

He remembered very clearly the first time he'd really seen Chase signing. House had been passing through the clinic when he saw a cop talking with Chase. There was a young girl, about eight with the cop, standing there silently. He watched intrigued as Chase made a subtle hand movement and the little girls eyes lit up. There was a flurry of hand signs and Chase's and the little girl's flowing together in conversation. It was so graceful, part of House had never really thought about sign language, how it looked, oh he knew it existed but it wasn't something that he had consciously thought about.

He hobbled over so he could butt in on the conversation, or at least eavesdrop. "What's up?" Chase met his eyes over the head of the little girl.

Chase seemed to come back to himself, he started to sign and talk at the same time. "Christy, this is my good friend Dr. House." Chase was beaming and anyone could see that Christy was responding well to him. "Now can you tell me where your parents are?" It turned out that she was part of a tourist family and she'd gotten lost but the policeman that found her and thought that there might be something wrong with her. Turned out she was just deaf but Chase got her parents number (they themselves weren't) and the cop called them. What he really remembered was that Chase was way more touchy-feely with that little girl than he was with any patient he'd ever seen. When the parents had shown up they hadn't been disturbed by it and House realizing that there was a whole sub-culture of acceptable behavior in the deaf community caused him to do some research. Out of curiosity he'd actually gone to a deaf church service. It was surreal. Sitting there in that silent church watching mouths move and hands flowing but hearing nothing. In a way it helped him to see just a bit further into Chase's world.

Chase seemed to winding down on his crying jag, which pleased House to no end, he didn't deal well with tears of grief. Plus if Chase cried much more he was sure there would be snot and that is so unattractive. Chase finally pulled away wiping ineffectually at his cheeks, his eyes were red and puffy from crying and the smile he gave watery and weak, but he was still damn attractive. Chase brought his hand up to House's cheek and for once House wished that he'd actually taken the time to shave, then suddenly Chase was on him fervently kissing him, as if a man dying of thirst with a bottle of water. House pulls back just a little, despite how much he desperately doesn't want too, and Chase whispers his breath hot on his lips, "please, please I need to feel something, please." That broken whispered plea caused him to come undone. After that everything is a blur of sensations heat, wet and dry friction and the impossible task of making their way to the bedroom without losing contact. Cause he was too old and too cripple to have sex on his couch.

With silent gasps, Chase watched as House babbled insensibly and for the first time in a couple of years Chase really regretted that he couldn't hear what was falling from those lips. He did the only thing one could in a situation like that, silenced those empty gasps with a kiss.

Afterward Chase lay across House his head over his heart and House had to wonder if Chase could feel his heart beating. House didn't want to go to sleep, afraid that he could never capture this moment again. Despite his best efforts House did fall asleep with the hope of a morning that would never come.


End file.
